Just Asking
by Winged Senea
Summary: Pre PoR. Oneshot. Rolf has a question that a few people probably have in their minds. Why do tomes break? So here's my theory. Random stuff again.


Senea: Hello again and welcome to something completely random. I asked myself this question awhile back and couldn't think of anything really good. So, I asked Soren...don't ask. I just pictured Soren answering it back to like Boyd or someone. So, here's that conversation.

Disclamier: Don't own it. Get it? Got it. Good.

* * *

"Boyd?" Boyd turned around to see his younger brother standing beside him, giving him an 'I'm going to ask you a question' look.

"What is it peewee? I'm busy!" Boyd shouted, turning back to sharpening his axe.

"Don't call me a peewee!" Rolf shouted back, though it didn't have much force to it. He sat beside his brother, telling him that he wasn't going to move until his question was going to be answered.

"Whatever peewee." Boyd mumbled, stopping what he was doing. "What's your question?"

"Um...Well..." Rolf stammered, feeling slightly weird asking his brother this.

"Come on spit it out! Or stop wasting my time!"

"Well...How come, in battle, your weapons always break?"

"Huh?" Boyd looked at his brother as if he were crazy. "And why are you asking me this? Why not ask Titania, or even Commander Greil? They'll know better then I would."

"But I don't want to bother them with it. They're really busy right now." Rolf answered back, waiting for his question to be answered.

"Fine, fine. It's an easy one though. The more you use a weapon on someone, it breaks apart after awhile, before you know it, you can't use it anymore. See, easy!"

"...That wasn't a very good answer, Boyd."

"Then don't ask me things peewee. Go ask someone else!"

"What are you two doing?" Both boys turned to find their oldest brother, Oscar, staring at them with amusement.

"Oscar!" Rolf said, bounding towards his brother and giving him a hug. "Aren't you suppose to be cooking our dinner?"

"Mist's watching over it right now." Oscar explained, patting him on the head. "So, what have you two been doing?"

"I just asked Boyd about how come weapons break." Rolf said, looking over to Boyd. "But he didn't answer the question very well..."

"Hey! I answered the question just fine you little bug!"

"I'm not a bug you airhead!"

"What did you say?!"

"Guys, guys, really." Oscar intervened before a shouting match occurred. "No need to get so riled up over nothing...Though that's always the reason anyways..."

"So, Oscar, do you know the answer?" ROlf asked, ignoring his brother's comment.

"It's basically what Boyd said. After using the same weapon over and over again, even with proper care, that weapon will rust or snap, making it not useable." Oscar started, placing his hand on his chin. "The better make it is, the faster they seem to break because, although they're powerful, the materials can't last. That's why you can use something made with iron more then you can use something made from steel or even silver."

"Ohhhh..."

"Unfortunately, iron based weapons don't do much damage, so it evens out in the end." Oscar finished explaining to the two, smiling to them as he finished his teachings.

Rolf turned to Boyd again and stuck out his tongue. "See, Oscar said it way better then you!"

"Mine was the shorter version is all." Boyd said, trying to defend himself, and failing at it.

Another thought occurred to the youngest brother and he turned his head to look at Oscar once again. "If that works with all the weapons, then...what about those magic books? 'Cause you don't hit your enemy with it..."

"Huh." Oscar said, placing his hand on his chin once again, thinking. His frowned increased when he couldn't think of any reasonable answer to that. "That's a good question, Rolf...I'm not sure...I was never really taught on any basics of magic so I can't really help you with that...Why don't you ask Soren? He'd know the answer a lot better then any of us."

"Ulp! Um...No thanks, that's okay. I don't have to know, I was just...um..." Rolf trailed off as both brothers looked at him strangely.

"What's up, Rolf? It's just a question." Boyd stated.

"But...He's..." The boy walked closer to his brothers so that no one else could hear. "He's scary..." Rolf said, barely above a whisper.

Oscar smiled at the child before shaking his head. "If you want, we'll come with you then and I'll ask the question. Alright? I'm kind of curious myself now." He said, earning himself a small smile from his brother.

"Okay, Oscar..." He turned to Boyd who looked slightly interested in it as well. "You coming Boyd?"

"Huh? No way, why do I want to hang out with that jerk?" Boyd stated. After both his brother stared at him for a moment, he looked away, defeated. "Fine, fine. I'll come too..."

Oscar smiled and Rolf jumped happily and they set out to search for their answer.

"Hey, Soren!" They found him in no time, outside near the entrance, sitting down reading a book. He looked up for a second hearing his name before returning to his studies.

"Yes?" He asked flatly, turning another page in the book.

"We have a question..." Oscar started, not quite sure how to begin the conversation.

"...Yes?"

"You use magic, right?" Boyd asked, jumping in.

The mage looked up from his book and stared at the three brothers blankly "...What made you think otherwise?"

"Ah, well." Oscar said, silencing the fighter. "We were wondering...Why do the tomes you use always break after you use them for a while?"

"Magic comes from the interaction with spirits...When using a proper spell, the spirit that is near by will commence it, thus causing the spell." Soren explained after a seconds thought.

"Okay..." Oscar said, waiting for the boy to continue.

"To make sure that mages can use magic at any time, tomes were created." Soren added, now in his element. "They bind a spirit to a book that contains spells written by sages and, in doing so, creating a magic tome...with an endurance level of course. The more complicated the spell, a lesser endurance is placed on the spirit, so only fewer spells can be used."

"...Huh?" Boyd asked, still confused.

Soren frowned at Boyd and sighed, annoyed. "...I'll give you an example that even you can understand, Boyd. Think of an axe that you have. Each time you use your weapon, it wears down and eventually breaks. It's the same occurrence with spirits in tomes."

"You mean you're beating up a spirit...in a book?" Boyd asked, trying to picture it. If magic was like that, it didn't sound very good. Wouldn't the spirits rebel?

"...No. Binding a spirit in a tome causes no damage to them. When the endurance level has been breached, the tome simply falls apart because the spirit has been released, leaving nothing left to hold the book in place."

"Oh..." Boyd finally understood. To some extent at least. Both of the other brothers seemed to understand better.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Er...Yeah...Thanks..."

"Good." Soren said, dismissing them with that word and returning to his book.

"Darn. And I just thought that when it ran out he just threw it at an enemy or something..." Boyd said, after they left earshot of the mage.

"Boyd, you really are an idiot." Rolf stated to the fighter, already regretting saying it as he saw him grow angry.

"What'd you call me, pipsqueak?!"

Oscar sighed as he watched Rolf run away from Boyd. He knew they would stop in a few minutes. Rolf was the faster runner and Boyd always got frustrated in that amount of time. "They'll be back before dinner." the horseman mumbled to himself and went back inside, wondering if Mist burnt anything yet.

* * *

Senea: And...Done! Really short and simplified. I intended it to be a base conversation but whatever, it seems okay like this too...Also, wouldn't you be scared of Soren if you were Rolf's age? I probably would be too...

Good? Leave a review to tell me please.


End file.
